


Not Always

by blackrider11



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Angsty-ish, Gen, Not really well written, Past Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-13 00:13:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4500297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackrider11/pseuds/blackrider11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They weren't always like this, the cold antagonist relationship they shared.</p><p>Mel and Danny centric.</p><p>(Author's writing rating: 2/5)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Always

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I would dedicate this but it's not as well written as I would like, so yeah (if you want me to tag you let me know). It was inspired by the tag on tumblr demanding more Danny and Mel, without Mel being a random villain.
> 
> Also, some p5 headcanons that I liked and ran with.

“You’re an idiot, Danny Lawrence,” Mel had told scathingly the moment she had gotten back to the Society House before storming off toward Elsie’s room.

Danny flinched, not from the inflection but from the echo of a memory of the last time Mel had said that.

 

It hadn’t always like this, the antagonistic yet somehow at the same time apathetic relationship they had with each other. Not always. It hadn't always been cold words, fury and resentment resounding underneath them. Once there had been warmth, friendship, friendly mockery. Now, no matter how Danny searched, there was no trace of that. No hint of what they had once had.

Once, long before the Kirsch was involved with the Adonis Hunt, before all things at Silas went to hell, before saving Carmilla, before Elsie went missing, before Summer Society, before Silas.

They had been friends. Good ones, maybe even great ones. Danny wasn’t sure what went wrong the first time; was it the years, distance, or the pain of memories of that time that had let their friendship bury itself into the ground? Either way the fault lay with them both, Danny is sure that if one of them had reached out the other would have responded, eagerly or at least fondly. And while, events outside of their control contributed to not keeping in touch, it was no excuse.

It seemed so long ago, maybe it was, it definitely felt like it that was for certain. They had lived in the same neighborhood. It wasn’t the nicest place a bit rundown and you had to be inside for safety an hour or two before dark, but it had been the only home Danny knew for the first fourteen years of her life. And it was the only one she would know until joining the Summer Society.

Somehow, they had found each other, two people who could have gone their entire lives just barely missing each other. But their first meeting wasn’t at school, as people would think, partially because Danny had been a year behind, an older brother being shot and then being suspended from school for fighting does that, and Mel a year ahead. They had met at the local store picking up necessities for their siblings. Danny had been eighty-six cents short at the counter and was digging through her deceased brother’s varsity jacket pockets looking for the change, Mel had been browsing the candy to use as bribes for her siblings just two aisles away.

It was luck, fate, or something else. But whatever it was that caused a young man to stride in with a gun and attempt to rob the store, one thing was for certain. It was not his day. It was less exciting than one might think, there was gun, then there was threatening, a distraction, and then the man was on the ground, gun sliding on the floor into a corner, a twelve-year old girl zip tying his hands behind his back, while another had a boot on his neck.

The store owner had thanked them and let them leave with their goods without paying. Perhaps it was a testament to their personalities that neither of them took more than what they had originally came for.

“What’s your name?” Mel had asked before they departed their separate ways from the store.

“Danny Lawrence.”

“I’m Mel.”

“Just Mel?” Danny asked.

“Just Mel. I have one thing to say to you,” Mel said holding out her hand in an offer to shake, which Danny took.

“You’re an idiot, Danny Lawrence,” Mel stated walking away.

 

The next time they crossed paths was month later and just like the last time it involved violence. But unlike the last time it had started out innocently enough. It was at one of the rare school events where people actually managed to organize a BBQ. And it had all begun with a game of tag. Danny had seen Mel was participating, she had been impressed that the girl was keeping up easily with the older kids. Danny had been off to the side watching her sibling play, as her parents couldn’t make it today, they both had committed to overtime work, it was Danny’s job to make sure Alix stayed out of trouble. So when some older teen boys taking a kid her age behind the school building, there was only one thing to do. The thought of staying out of it never crossed her mind.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” ‘ _Cliché’_ Danny thought but appropriate, she took advantage of their shock or perhaps it was the lack of intelligence, she wasn’t really paying attention, as she strode past them toward the kid against the wall. Even at age twelve, she was almost as tall as most of the high school boys and if her grandmother was anything to go by she wasn’t finished growing.

“Hey, let’s get you out of here.” Danny told the frightened kid.

“I don’t think they’ll let us leave, Miss.”

Danny blinked a bit taken aback by the politeness of the kid, the shock almost, almost, caused a fist to hit her face. Thankfully it was deflected by Mel.

“You really ought to pay more attention to your surroundings, Lawrence.”

“Mel?”

“No, it’s Mickey Mouse. Of course it’s me Sherlock. Who else would be stupid enough to follow you back here?” Said Mel turning to face Danny.

“Uh, Mel?”

“They’re getting ready to attack behind me aren’t they? Hey, kid. If we distract them are you able to get out of here?”

“I’m very good at running.”

“Good,” Mel said, cracking her knuckles preparing for the incoming charge. Danny strode forward until she was standing even with Mel.

“What?” Danny said when Mel cocked an eyebrow at her. “You think I’m going to let you have all the fun?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Hey, friends?”

“Friends.” Danny confirmed.

 

After that incident they had bonded, and found that they were quite similar. Both of them wanted to take care of their younger siblings, sibling in Danny’s case, both had lost someone in their family, they were both responsible, and stubborn to a fault. They found that they were different too. Danny was smart because she read and observed but tended to have a very one-track mind. Whereas Mel could string concepts together but didn’t enjoy learning through books but rather by doing. Danny forgave easily and could never turn her back on someone even if they wronged her, Mel was content to sit back and watch you burn for your transgressions. Their friendship wasn’t perfect, but if it had been, it would have been boring for both of them.

Danny still isn’t even sure what which events led to the end of their friendship two years later, the five month leading up to it are hazy. She remembers that her parents died. She remembers crying, begging the social workers to keep her and her sister together. She remembers being angry, so angry, and waking up in a broken room, in a broken house with Mel yelling at her “You’re an idiot, Lawrence,” and storming away. She never did apologize for whatever it was she had done.

By the time Danny had come to grips with the foster system, a year had already past and it was only then she learned Mel had moved away, her mother had gotten re-married and she never bothered to find out where Mel had ended up. Not that it mattered much anyway; Danny had her own problems to deal with. Alix was slated to be adopted by a nice couple. But Alix hadn’t wanted to leave Danny in the system, but after talking it over and looking through the facts, she had to convince her younger sister that it was for the best. She had promised…she had promised, oh God she had promised to visit every chance she got. But each foster home got further and further away, and then one day, her social worker showed up looking grim.

She had been informed that her sister, her only living relative, was in the hospital. There had been an incident involving a hit and run. It had been bad, there was a sixty-percent chance that Alix wouldn’t make it through the night. She had, being a Lawrence, she had managed it. She’d even woken up and Danny had been one of few that had been able to speak with her before she had succumbed again to the meds. She had been failing her classes lately, doing more part time jobs to earn money to visit her sister, and somehow she’d been found out. It was weird being scolded by someone younger than her, but Danny was just so happy she’d pulled through that she just smiled but promised to do better anyway.

 

 

 

After the scolding and she had finally gotten to the place she was staying, only then did she learn that Alix died of an aneurism five hours after her visit.

 

It was irrational, Danny knew, to feel guilty. But she did. Like maybe, if she hadn’t insisted that Alix go with her new family she’s still be here. If Danny had been there to protect her like an older sister should, like she should have been doing, this wouldn’t have happened. She threw herself into school, into sports, and succeeded enough to get a couple of merit scholarships and an accepted to Silas University.

The moment she stepped on campus, it felt like she belonged there. The first thing she did was head to the library, a school, she had found having to go through so many was only as good as its library. And this library was impressive. After checking out the library and getting a feel for the campus, she wandered the booths of the fair, they had some weird clubs here, but the Outdoor Club caught her eye. Archery, tracking, she never had gotten a chance to do learn how to do them in the city, even though she had read about it. She had hit it off with the two girls who ran the booth; they’d also been members Summer Society and invited Danny to check it out.

Needless to say Danny joined. It was only during initiation at the beginning of the school year, that she found Mel did too. Mel found her at the initiation party.

“You,” Mel said standing in front of her, it sounded friendly enough.

“You,” Danny had responded rising from her sitting position. She was unsure of where they stood after four years apart but she could never back down from a challenge, no matter how much trouble it got her into.

“Nice to see you haven’t changed any,” Mel said. She smirked, “except maybe your height.”

“What can I say, I grew.” It was kind of nice, talking with an old friend.

“Can’t say I forgive you Lawrence, but it’s good to see you again.”

They saw each other everyday, but they did little to interact, it was kind of like Mel was avoiding her. Danny rarely took the easy path, this time she did though because she still wasn’t sure what she had done all those years ago, and decided to respect Mel’s wishes. And at Summer Society, Danny felt like it was where she belonged. It was where she felt she was doing the most good. She helped people on a daily basis, becoming the vice-president of the Outdoor Club, and even signing up to be a mentor in her second year then a TA in her third. All the work kept her busy, and with the addition of her own grades left her barely any free time to dwell about her own problems. She still felt a connection to Mel as they had both become people the Sisters’ looked up to.

Then Elsie went missing and she had met Laura.

Since then Mel had been directing almost cold fury in her direction that Danny could only accept because she had failed. Between the two of them, Mel had worked tirelessly trying to find where Elsie went and bring her back. Elsie and Mel had been friends as far as Danny had known, but she never guessed how close they were. So Danny should have been unsurprised when she had found Mel in the hallway outside of Elsie’s room papers scattered, photos, and folders laying where they had fallen, and Mel on the ground passed out from exhaustion. It made Danny feel guilty, because here she was chasing after a girl who reminded her of Alix and not throwing her all at finding a friend.

When all was said and done, Elsie had been returned. But Mel had never really forgiven her for her distraction. Elsie understood, hell Elsie just laughed it off and asked if Danny wanted to go drinking. All the while Mel just glared at her and Danny knew that it would never be the same, they hadn't been unfriendly but now there was a coldness that wasn't there before.

But they could change, if only they tried. At least Danny hoped so because they weren't always like this. She was trying. But Mel didn't want to. She hoped they would be able to talk again, without the anger, the coldness, the lack of forgiveness.

It hadn't been like this, not always. Once a long time ago.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I deliberately left out Danny's experiences at foster homes because not all of them are bad but not all of them are good and I didn't want to get on a tangent into Danny's life because it was about Mel and Danny.


End file.
